Layers
by BookReads28
Summary: Annabeth has always had a plan, in every aspect of her life she knew what she was going to do down to the date, she wasnt going to waste her life on any mistakes or unexpected surprises. Life is too short for that. She knew who she would marry, how many kids she would have, where she would work. It was all planed out, every detail. That is, until she met him...
1. Chapter 1

Hi** everybody! This is my first story and i'm really excited for this! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! :)**

**And no, this story and characters and EVERYTHING in it does not belong to me. It belongs to the oh so wonderful... Rick Riordan *applause*.**

They were flashes. Swiping past her vision fast enough to make anyone dizzy; she couldn't make out the images at all. There were so many things happening all at once that it took her sometime before she realized what was what they were, it was showing a story in pictures. Well, more like a story full of blurry colors actually.

Her visionseemed sharper, more attentive to detail than usual. Things passed by her eyes, zipping in and out of her mind. Overwhelming her senses to the max. Flashes of green and orange colored her vision. They were all too bright and vibrant to possibly be real, but they were still beautiful and intrigued her none the less. She couldn't comprehend what she was seeing or why, which was very odd for her.

She had gotten used to the patterns and intricate paintings of colors when everything just went still. It went blank and dark at the same time and after a while, she thought it would stay that way forever.

Suddenly everything sharpened and got more lucid, almost like the world was blurry and she finally could see. Now she could make out what she was looking at.

There were large trees, their limbs and leaves moving softly together in sync in the breeze. While the sun rained down, showering its rays on everything in its path and lighting it up. Some patchy clouds floated in the sea-like-sky, making shapes and constantly blowing out of sight. The birds flew along in the air and around the many big buildings and towers, narrowly dodging trees and walls. Down bellow the entire ground was filled with bright, grass, littered with wildflowers and trees. She noticed the familar way that the small hills dipped and bobbed like a fish jumping out of the water.

Oak trees, Apple trees, shrubs and wild weeds invaded lots of the space along with little animals like the squirrels and rabbits that hopped along. The many people walked or sat along together, clad in bulky jackets and mittens, talking happily away. Hot dog stands lining up the road corners like cars in a parking lot. Each stand crowded by lines that had formed filled with hungry customers waiting to eat

And every last person was comepletly unaware of her watching.

Though she was pretty sure this wasn't real, she couldn't be sure, everything seemed so out of place and overly bright, but the images seemed to get quite fuzzy at times. It was clearly not her own vision, more like she was looking through someone elses eyes. She did however, catch on pretty quick to her surroundings while racking her brain.

This was Central Park.

Well it was where her mind took her anyway.

She hoped she wasn't going crazy, she was pretty sure this isn't where she was supposed to be she could've sworn she was still at home, studying or doing God knows what, but here? No she shouldn't be here.

She felt a tug in the back of her mind and not in the physical sence, more like mental. It was as if her brain was being yanked in the other direction, forcefully. Something wanted her attention. Turning around, her focus zoned in on a small girl, she was a cute little girl, her rain boots were twice her size and had little swans and clouds on them. She had on some bright gold tights and an oversized purple sweater with a cartoon rabbit on the front. Her long brown hair was in two lopsided pigtails and was holding an ice cream cone in her hand that looked to be on the verge of capsizing as the child jumped from puddle to puddle. She was holding hands with someone, who was looking down at her smiling.

She couldn't tell what had drawn her to the little girl, but she figured it it must have been a mistake so she began to look back around.

That is, until the the girl turned her way.

The little toddler's eyes were glowing.

They shined so bright it looked as if they had grown 3 times their normal size.

They seemed to sear into her mind, reading her every thoughtand sifting through her brain. She should have been frightened by the intensity or the girls stare, if they wern't so beautiful.

The orbs were an ocean of colors, there were swirls of blues and greens and yellows and blacks. Even through their strageness, she felt a certain familar-ness to them. She had seen them before, she knew it, though she wasn't sure it was possible for there to be anything that abnormal and georgeous all at the same time. But as quickly as she turned to her the first time, the small girl turned back around to the puddles.

And when she eventually caught her eye once more, the luminous that seemed to burn with such bright intensity, had faded into a dark brown.

Just in time for her vision to go dark and her mind drift away.

Annabeth shot up fast, suddenly woken up by the sound of someone calling her. She winced, rubbing her forehead after smaking it on the top bunk of the bed. There was going to be a knot there later on.

Flinging herself back down she stared at the ceiling for a few minutes to catch her breath. She was confused, drenched in sweat and was still trembling as she got up to peel herself out of bed and go stumble into the shower.

Discarding her clothes and getting under the hot spray was conforting, relaxing the muscles that she had no clue were tight, and letting her mind go free to wander.

A dream, she thought.

She had a dream.

A dream that she just couldnt seem to conjure up at all, though it seemed quite important that she did. She tried to bring back something that she could possibly remember from it, but she got nothing, as usual. She shook her head, she couldnt focus on that right now, she pushed that to the back of her mind forcing herself to collect her thoughts and get ready for the rest of the dreadful day. It was the first day of school and she really wasn't looking forward to it. Not that she didn't love learning and all that, she did, it was just all the extras that came with it. Highschool -senior year to be exact- was like the melting pot, the cut off year, the toilet flusher. It was the end of her life being a teenager and the beginning of her life as an adult. She had come to terms with this a while ago, living life to the fullest and all that crap, and she was fine with it. It was just the in betweens that got her in a crabby mood on days like this.

Stepping out the shower and into a towel she padded back to her room and headed towards the window. Sighing, she felt all the remaining hope drain out of her body. The least mother nature could do was make it nice outside, that way there could actually be something to make her want to go to that hell hole. "Sunny and bright to make the spirits right, and when the sun goes away, dream that it will come back for another day," her father used sing it to her to make her cheer up when she was young. But that doesn't help much of anything now because her father wasn't here anymore and apparently neither was the sun. It was foggy and damp outside from yesterday's rain and she could practically feel the humidity from inside. Sighing, she knew her hair wouldn't stand a chance.

Dressing, Annabeth made things pretty simple, a white dress and flats, too much walking for heels and she was pretty sure no one cared how she dressed anyway. She fluffed out her hair to the best of her ability -which wasn't much- just to tame it to a less wild look, and grabbed her bag. She didnt even bother with makeup, she just needed to get out of there before her mother saw her and had her go change into something more "presentable".

She sliped out the apartment door just in time for her brothers to start running down the stairs screaming about food. She didn't have time for pleasantries.

Annabeth took the stairs two at a time while going down the three floors that took her to the lobby. The matter of her commute to school in the mornings was always a topic of argument -amongst other things- between Annabeth and her mother. Her mother didn't understand why she would waste her, "precious taxpayer's dollars" by not using the elevators and Annabeth, well she just wished her mother could go to hades.

Sure most of the reason she does it in the first place is because of her undying love of pissing her mother off, but she actually enjoys walking those steps and plus, elevators make her nauseous.

Walking into the lobby she looked around the familiar space, it was exceptionally warm down here today.

Turning the corner towards the door she was abruptly met by the crinkled, friendly face of Holland, the cheery old bellman who had, over the years, befriended Annabeth. He probably understood her hatred of school and people more than anyone.

Actually... There were a few people in the world that she could never truely hate though, her best friends.

Well technically just one...Thalia. They met in 1st grade after an incident on the play ground left Annabeth partially bald and Thalia suspended from school for a week and they have been best friends ever since.

You see that's actually how she met Jason, the're brother and sister. Twins to be exact, and wherever Thalia went, Jason always followed.

It didn't take long for Annabeth to realize that Jason was always more than just a friend though, even from the moment they met.

She loved him.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when Holland spoke, with a heavy accent "Have a nice first day little one, i know yer don't fancy school one bit, but the sooner yer finish, the sooner yer can leave, aye?" He said with a wink.

"Yeah, i guess, thanks," she mumbled with a wave and slipped out the door.

The chilly air ambushed her as soon as she stepped out, she could feel the air changing and trying to hold on to the last seconds of summer, but the cold autum air had started taking over and pretty soon it would be a winter wonderland down here. She shivered as the goosbumps popped up on her arms and legs and she sped up her walking. Maybe a dress wasn't the best idea.

Walking to school didn't take very long, she got there in about 5 minutes. Of course she did live literally across the street from it.

Stepping into the parking lot of the school, she noticed nothing had changed, the hideous blue paint that covered every inch of the school was still peeling, the long drain pipe was still hanging off the side of the building like a death trap, and one of the o's in Goode High that had fallen off freshman year, had not even been touched.

She looked around the parking lot which didn't help her nerves, there was no one outside. Was everyone so eager for school to start? She thought. She started to get hopeful as she took the front steps two at a time, but walking into the school was not any better.

There was absolutely no soul in sight.

She walked down the halls looking for any form of life, but was just met with rows and rows of bright yellow lockers. She was relieved to come across one person who was leaning against the wall doodling on a textbook, his wild black hair masking his face. He looked approachable enough, but as she got a closer look the lip piercings and tattos that covered almost every visible part of his arms, didn't seem very friendly.

She was getting frustrated and tired of walking around, had she gotten the dates mixed up or something? She was pretty sure it was Monday. Glancing at her wrist, she checked to see if she was too early, but her watch wasn't there. She sighed. Glancing up, her face was met by a large electronic clock on one of the lockers, the red numbers glaring back at her and searing into her mind.

"Shit!" She cursed under her breath and broke into a run in

the direction of her class.

Appearently her shower this morning had been a little too long, because it was 9:58, and she had missed the entire 1st period.

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	2. Chapter 2

**Hi guyyyyyys! It's my second chapter! Now i don't know about you, but i don't like author's notes, so i'm gonna keep it short.**

**I am going to try to update regularly, but after all, it is my first story so i am not sure if that can happen. Buttttt pleasse pleasse review i need ad much feed back as possible! **

**This story, along with ALL if its characters belongs to the oh so wonderful... Rick Riordan *applause***

By the time Annabeth finally got through the doors of the classroom -which she was epically tardy for- she was flushed, sweaty and panting like a wild animal. Not to mention she tripped three times on the way over, losing her shoes multiple times.

Peeking in, not one person looked up at her, even as she had to walk in front of the entire class to get to the only vacant seat in the room.

Right in the front.

Sitting down in the cold chair, she realized she couldn't have picked a more stupidly placed seat. She couldn't see anything aside from the blackboard and the teacher. Even her peripheral vison was obsurred by the chipping blue walls. This is what she would have as her entertainment all year.

This is why she's always had a seat in the back, so she could pretend be the quiet, unsuspecting girl who sat alone and didn't talk to or bother anyone, but was secretly spying on every individual in the room. Survival 101.

Sad? Absolutely.

But she prefered it like that, her system helped her get out of trouble.

But not this time. She could practically feel the stares in the back of her head, making her want to curl in on herself and crawl out the room on all fours. She was glad she wasn't alone in her thinking though, the kid next to her looked ready to just bolt at any moment.

Sighing, she leaned down, chin in hand wondering about what to do, the teacher hadn't bothered glancing up yet so she decided it would be best if she tried to make it look like she had been there the whole time. And by that, she ment do nothing because the teacher clearly wasn't making her time useful anyway.

She started doodling shapes and patterns in her textbook, which she had previously decorated with tiny little hearts and glitter, to pass time. She even ate some the sandwich and apple she mannaged to grab before she left this morning. Her IPod kept out all the sounds of classroom, the quiet chatter, the sound of pencils and erasers being knawed down, everything. Even the sound of the door being slammed open.

She didn't notice the teacher had started talking until another voice had joined in. "Your late." Her teacher stated without looking up from his stack of papers that hadn't seemed to change since she herself had walked in, "Oh, didn't notice. I guess I was roaming the halls for no reason then, huh?" A deep voice answered sarcasticly. Annabeth's head shot up at the sound so fast, her neck popped. Only to realize everyone else had already trained their attention to the intruder.

It was the weird guy in the hall that she ran into earlier, she was kind of glad she hadn't asked him for help now, he was kind of an ass... a scary ass too.

His back was to the class as he spat at the teacher, who was trying -and failing- to ignore the rowdy teenager. "Are you going to let me sit down or give me detention? Either way, could you make it fast? Believe it or not, i've got some sleeping to catch up on." The guy said, tapping his long fingers against the teachers desk impaintently. The older man flicked his hand in an impatient gesture and turned looking around the room until his eyes, coincidentally, found Annabeth's.

She stiffens as he narrows his eyes, shes hoping that two things wouldn't happen... Especially at the same time. She really didn't feel like going off on her teacher on the first day of school because he called her out in front of the class or put that delinquent next to her.

She was almost releived when her teacher looked away, as if he had forgotten the reason he had been looking around in the first place. Annabeth was praying that he was elderly enough to just forget things on the spot like that.

But life isn't always very kind.

After recollecting his thoughts the teacher points at her, "You, yes you, stop trying to act innocent. You wern't here at the beginng of the class." He says waving his bony finger in the air. Annabeth pales and slowly nods her head, fearing her voice might squeak. The older man sighs, "Because this is why I teach", he mumbles -not so silently- under his breath. "Good," he starts, "the two delinquents can sit together then." He smiles, his lips tight.

Annabeth almost gasped out loud. Turning crimson with anger, she tried to control her breathing before she said anything rash that would put her in the office. She had never been called anything worse than an "angel" in her entire life, let alone a delinquent! She was fuming, but the stupid nuisance himself just starting smirking as he pulled up a desk next to hers. "What's your name son?" The younger boy grimace, but still managed to raise one black eyebrow in question. "Nevermind I know, you've been in my detention classes long enough." With a grunt he turned around to continue whatever he was doing before he was interupted.

The entire class seemed to calm down too and kept their quiet murmurs to themselves. Annabeth turned to the boy next to her, she didn't know what she was expecting out of him, to speak or introduce himself, she didn't know. But she didn't expect him to the just fold himself over the desk and start snoring in the 45 seconds that he had come over.

When the bell finally rang, Annabeth got her things together, shouldered her backpack and took one last look a the dreaming teenager, who's drool had made a line down his face and formed a puddle by his arm. His face etched in a permanent scowl.

She thought about waking him up, helping him out so he wouldn't be late, but that wouldn't do anybody any good. He didnt seem like the type of person to take being awoken by strangers lightly either.

After one more glance Annabeth started down the hall to her locker, well to find it mostly. "327," she said to herself remembering everything on her schedule. She passed by her locker several times in the mess of yellow before she finally found it, but when she did all she could do was cringe. She just had to get the worst locker in school, the one with enough scratches and craters on it to be confused with a used sheet of foil. It has always had a gravitational pull for on coming fights and flying objects and because of that, it had earned itself a nickname.

And now she was stuck with it.

Opening it she exampined the inside, she could deal with this, there were a few dents and scraps, but nothing that couldn't be beautified. She's been decorating her lockers since the 5th grade, it was something that helped her past time and helped make going to this hell hole everyday, manageable. She planned to do the same with this one, whether or not it was hideous on the outside.

She started pulling her text books out of her bag, when large hands suddenly obscured her vision.

Her first thought was to scream, but she knew that wouldn't do any good, with half the people in this school being so stupidly oblivious. She calculated the size of the hands and the height.

A boy.

She couldnt exactly run because seriously, kidnappers should be prepared for that, but she soon realized she wouldn't need to. "Guess who," a deep voice wispered in her ear, she relaxed as she recognized the voice instantly. Turning around she wrapped her arms around his neck, his bright eyes shining as he looked down at her, "You know, you really shouldn't sneak up on girls like that," she started scolding, slightly annoyed. He raised an eyebrow, "You didn't think I was trying to abduct you, did you?"

She looked pointedly at him, daring him to go there. His eyes grew wide with humor, "You did didnt you? Anna if you would actually just stand there while someone attempted to kidnap you, I don't-," she stopped him mid-laugh with a glare. "I was estimating the time it would take me to get in one kick between the legs, one to the ribs and another to the jaw before anyone noticed and then after getting rid of your body, I would have continued unpacking my bag." Stunned into silence he just stared. Annabeth raised an eyebrow threatening him to talk and when he didn't she just smirked with satifaction. Coming back to his sences he made a claw with his hand, "Rawr, kitten has nails, dontcha." She smiled, "You know, I think you're just all bark and no bite. You've threatened me enough, but you would never really do anything. "Oh you have no idea." Annabeth said with a glare. A small smiled lifted his lips as he drew closer, placing an arm around her waist and leaning forward, their faces inches apart, she could feel his breath fanning her face.

"You always have a plan don't you, and a plan B and a plan C," he said with a grin while his eyes twinkled. "You know me well, Grace," Annabeth wispered, their forheads were touching. He moved to close the gap-. "No PDA in the hallway!" They sprung apart, startled by the booming voice just feet away. "Baby brother, have I taught you nothing?" Her voice was right next to them then. Sighing, Jason hid his face in Annabeth's shoulder, "Hello Thalia," he greets with muffled annoyance. Annabeth pinched the bridge of her nose and cringed, she hadn't opened her eyes yet in fear that whatever was about to come out her mouth, would bring on a migraine. She opened one eye and was met with the short frame of her best friend. "To what do we owe this visit, Thals?" The tiny girl frowned, "Why are we acting like we didn't see each other just yesturday?" She says, her hands on her hips.

"Maybe we wanted to be alone, did you think about that?" Jason asked standing up straight. Rolling her eyes Thalia just sighed. "You guys do realize that this is a hallway, as in, no privacy whatsoever. And anyway I still don't get it, Nico and I arent like that."

"You and Nico arent normal, everyone knows this, it's like, a fact."

Glaring at her sibling Thalia stalks forward and fear springs into Jason's eyes. Annabeth had to muffle her laugh with her hand as the two stared each other down.

"Little brother, don't you have somewhere else to be?" Annabeth watched as understanding passed through their eyes. Jason nods, "Yeah, i'll see you later ladies," he winks at her and walks off leaving her staring at the back of his retreating form.

Thalia turns towards her and reaches around her head, tapping on the metal slab behind her, "Oh look, you got "Denty". I could have sworn there was a bet about who would be next to get it this year." She chuckled and Annabeth just grimaced.

"You know you should really stop calling him that, it hurts his ego," she started jabbing her thumb in the direction her boyfriend had previously gone. Thaila shrugs, "It's partly true, lots can happen in eight minutes, Annie. You know like, birth." She rolled her eyes, "Plus, his ego needs to get knocked down a few pegs anyway. No one likes arrogant Jason."

Thalia looks down and picks at her nails and Annabeth took the time to study her odd friend.

It always stumped her at how opposite the twins were, Thalia's bold, "I don't care" attitude and gothic tendencies were so different compared to Jason and his carefree, laid back way of life. They were were almost complely different when it came to the physical things too. Jason stood at almost six feet tall while Thalia... well she's bearly grazing the five foot mark.

She would think that they should at least have similar looks, but no. Thaila's dark hair and pale features are in complete contrast to Jason's platinum hair and tan skin. The only thing they have in common is their eyes, it's the only thing remotely "twin-like" about them.

Annabeth realized she had been staring off into space for a while when Thalia finally started talking. "Where were you this morning? Me and Jace tried to find you all morning, chick." For once Thalia's electrifying eyes were serious.

"I got here during 2nd, I must have overslept or my shower time needs to be cut dramatically," she tried to make a joke, but it didn't appear that Thalia thought it was funny. "Did you have the dream again?" Annabeth bit her lip, she had and it had been coming to her a lot more often than before, but she wasnt about to let her overprotective bestfriend know that. "I don't know, I never remember them, they could just all be different and have nothing to do with each other," she lied. The older girl eyed her, she always knew when she was lying, but she quickly dismissed it shaking her head. "How's it at home then? Athena got that stick out her ass yet?" Annabeth laughed shaking her head, "Nope, nothing's changed, it's still wedged up in there." Annabeth hesitates, "Since we're on the subject, what about you, how's your mom been Thals? I havent seen her since summer and Jason doesn't talk much about her anymore." Thalia was shaking her head before she even finnished, "She's fine, well the same I guess," she shrugged and managed a small smile, a clear sign to close the subject, for now.

"Ok now lets stop all this heavy stuff, I wanna do something fun," Annabeth said hoping to thaw the awkward silence, "You have free period with me, we can go get out and do something!" She briefly thought about the fact that she hadnt even been at school for an hour yet and she was already wanting to leave. Thalia eyed her, "How do you know i have free period?" Annabeth shrugged, "I stole your schedule." She watched as Thalia's eyes got big, "Wow Annie you are learning from me!" Thaila smiled a warm smile and slapped her friends shoulder, Annabeth just grimaced, "Don't call me Annie."

"Come on Jace gets to call you Anna, why not me. Plus, it's funny." She continued to glare, "My point exactly, Jason uses it as a term of endearment, Thals and you just do it to make me mad." Thalia just rolled her eyes as they start walking around the corner.

Turning, Annabeth's eyes caught something accross the hall, but that was just when Thalia decided it was a good time to start talking. "If you wanna go do something we could go get lunch, I mean I know its still like 9, but I'm hungry anyway, well I'm always hungry you know that-," Annabeth stoped her rambling. "Shhh." Thalia paused, "But-," "Food later, Thals who's that?" She pointed accross the hall where against the lockers sat the mysterious boy who had fallen asleep next to her in their last class. Thalia sent her a teasing smile, "You think he's hot don't you?" Annabeth blushes and stammers, "I- of course not Thalia, I have your brother for that, did you forget about him that fast?" Thalia started making loud exagerated gagging noises getting attention from the surrounding people, "Gross Annie," she held up a hand before Annabeth could object, "Of course I didn't forget my dear brother, I just think it's fine if you admire others. From a distance of course."

"Is Nico okay with that?" Annabeth says pointedly. "What Nico doesnt know wont kill him. Now if I was being completly honest with you, which I am, I could tell you that that thing over there is one hot hunk of boy." She said with a shrug. "Thalia!" She pushed her shoulder playfully, "I just want to know his name."

"When you tell me why, I will give up the goods." Annabeth sighed, "He's just in my class," she said as she started watching him. He was leaning against the wall tossing a small object up and down in the air. Annabeth realized she had been staring for a while, when he seemed to feel eyes on him and looked their way. Annabeth was too far away to really see his face, but she could have sworn she saw his facial expression drop even lower than it was before when he spotted them. Turning hastily back to Thalia she tried to stop her cheeks from coloring, "Thalia just tell me, what's his name?" She asked with exaggerated annoyance. Thalia seemed to sense her agitation so she gave in, "Fine, I know him, he's a friend of Nico's, they hang out from time to time and i've met him once, he's bad news." Annabeth raised an eyebrow as she kept her eyes trained on the trouble maker. "Wow Thals, coming from you, he must be atrocious." She says distractedly. "I'm just warning you Annie." "What's his name Thalia! Stop stalling!" Thalia sighs, "His name's Percy... Percy Jackson."

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